Art and social activism at East Arlington's 13FOREST Gallery

Sunday

Mar 13, 2011 at 12:01 AMMar 13, 2011 at 1:13 PM

Arlington’s three-year-old 13FOREST Gallery is putting its own spin on the nationwide “It Gets Better” campaign as it hosts work from artists all over the country that addresses the increasingly public issue of gay, teen suicides.

Maria Chutchian/Staff Writer

Arlington’s three-year-old 13FOREST Gallery is putting its own spin on the nationwide “It Gets Better” campaign as it hosts work from artists all over the country that addresses the increasingly public issue of gay, teen suicides.

Co-owner Marc Gurton said he was inspired to hold the show after seeing a drawing on Facebook by Cambridge-based illustrator Louisa Bertman, whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe, The Village Voice and GQ. The illustration depicted Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, who jumped off a bridge in October after video footage of him being intimate with a man was streamed online by his roommate. Gurton said when he saw the image Clementi’s head filled with right-wing activists encouraging him to jump, he decided he had to have the illustration available in his gallery.

The gallery then sent out a national call looking for artists passionate about the cause. After receiving 25 submissions, Gurton and his peers whittled the pool down to the nine artists whose work is now available for purchase at the gallery.

Inspired by columnist Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign, which encourages adults to create online videos in support of gay teenagers who receive hostility and ridicule in their schools and has gained widespread recognition with support from President Barack Obama and dozens of other celebrities, Gurton said he wanted to add another detail to the message.

“Our idea was that may be true, but it’s hard to tell a 14-year-old kid it’ll get better in four years when they get out of the house and leave high school,” he said.

Gurton said the show, called “It Gets Better/Make It Better,” is the result of his belief that taking action for a purpose, even if the attempts are unsuccessful, will increase enthusiasm and hope for that particular cause. Hosting an art show with a theme like gay, teen suicide is his interpretation of that mentality.

“It gets better, but you have to make it better yourself,” he said. “And you can make it better.”

In addition to Bertman’s “Jump!,” Gurton said he was particularly moved by a handful of monotypes created by Newton artist Daniel Embree, who left Brigham Young University after meeting his future husband at a “gender affirmative therapy” session, where people who have expressed uncertainty regarding their sexual orientation are guided in confirming their masculine or feminine identity and often directed away from homosexuality.

Gurton said his interest was piqued by Embree’s background, growing up as a Mormon and attending a college well-known for its religious leanings. After Embree met his partner at the therapy sessions, the two left the university and moved to Massachusetts so they could be married. Embree’s pieces, which each cost between $750 and $900, depict a young man in various positions, including one in which he’s praying called “Reproach” and another in which he is straightening a bow tie called “Dignity.”

But what Gurton discovered as he selected the artists whose work he wanted to display was that the show would become a medium for artistic social advocacy for causes beyond gay, teen suicide. The show includes artwork that touches on environmentalism, feminism and racial identity, he said.

“It has been extremely well received,” he said.

13FOREST Gallery donates 10 percent of all proceeds from the show to the non-profit advocacy group P-FLAG, or Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. A reception and artist talk will be held on Thursday, March 17 at the gallery, 167A Mass. Ave., as part of Capitol Square’s Third Thursday events.

Staff Writer Maria Chutchian can be reached by e-mailing mchutchian@wickedlocal.com.